I think you were, briefly, United's
record signing. Did the fee, alongside playing for your boyhood club, put
additional pressure on you?

Yes a bit and
obviously it was a big step up standard wise as well. I'd come from the 3rd
Division with Bury and I was playing alongside and against some very good
players in Division 1. I was not a confident player, so I was always a little
bit in awe. It was a case of, I'm here now, I need to establish myself
alongside a team of players who had already done it. You know, all those big
shot cockneys….ha ha. It took me a bit of time to settle in.

You never seemed to get a decent run
of games in the team. Was that a source of frustration and how difficult was it
to deal with?

Yes it was frustrating
and injuries played a part. In my first pre-season we played Wednesday in a
friendly.I tackled Carlton Palmer and I
got a whack on my shin. I thought, 'Bloody hell that hurt'. Anyway, we are
playing our first league game at home to Liverpool the week after. Liverpool in
the first league game for your home town club and Harry told me I was playing.
What Harry didn't know was that my shin was going yellow, green everything and
it was killing me. I just thought, 'I've got to play, I want to play'.

I played in
that match and what a game it was. Huge crowd, hot, sunny day, great occasion,
then Trace (United keeper Simon Tracey) fractured his cheekbone making a save
and Pembo (John Pemberton) had to go in goal.(Ian - United lost 3-1, many
Blades fans blamed Ian Rush's challenge for injuring Tracey). I had the
drugs test afterwards and I am stood having a widdle next to John Barnes and
Ian Rush! It was surreal, I had been playing for Bury a few months previous at
Newport County and Aldershot.

The Tuesday
following the Liverpool game, we played Derby County at the Baseball Ground and
my shin was getting worse and worse, but I was picked again to play. I lasted
about 60 minutes, came off and they took me into the medical room and their
doctor looked at it. I was rushed into hospital on the day after as it had
turned into an abscess on my shin. When they operated they told me I could have
lost my leg as it could have gone poisonous. I just so wanted to play that the
pain didn't matter at the time, but looking back I think bloody hell how stupid
was I? But with hindsight you think, no as it meant I made my debut against
Liverpool.

Much is made of the team spirit under
Harry. What are your abiding memories?

Harry used to
take us down to army camp pre-season, so we turned up at Bramall Lane on the
Sunday and travelled down to Arbourfield, near Reading. I had come from
Manchester City and Bury, where it was very strict pre-season, no drinking,
nothing. Anyway, we got to the camp and did the bleep test at night and then, I
remember it clearly as I still talk to Ian Bryson about it, we sat in our dorms
and all the lads are having ashower,
putting their aftershave on and getting all their gear on. I said to Jocky (Bryson)
"What's happening?" and he said, "We are going out, Harry
doesn't mind. As long as we are back and ready to train and work hard in the
morning he doesn't give a monkeys." That epitomises everything about the
place at that time. And nobody missed training. Everybody gave 100% when they
had to, but everyone "played" 100% when they could do!

You scored your first league goal in a
Blades shirt at Bramall Lane v Everton, do you remember much about it. Can you
describe the feeling?

I am sure it
was a left footer, half volley past Neville Southall. It wasn't a bad un. It
was the Kop end and it is a boyhood dream fulfilled. You have stood on that
terrace as a kid, been ball boy at that end and to score at that end was
storybook, Roy of the Rovers stuff. A cliché maybe, but it is so true.

One of your favourite moments must
have been the goal in the FA Cup victory over Manchester United at the Lane.
You got in the right place, but when it came back at you off Schmeichel did you
know much about it? What are your over-riding memories of the day?

When Giggs
scored after 15 minutes we thought, Oh bloody hell this could be an
embarrassment on telly and then we got to grips with it. Then came the goal.
Glyn Hodges swung in the free kick and I should have scored when I threw myself
towards it, leg outstretched in the box, but I just saw this massive Dane
coming towards me! It came back off him and hit me as my momentum took me
towards goal and……well yes, it hit my arm. My son slaughters me for it and I
just say, "Well, I've scored against Manchester United, in front of 30,000
fans and it was on the telly."

That season saw a great cup run,
culminating in the Steel City FA Cup semi-final at Wembley. You were in the
starting eleven for the run of matches up to two games before Wembley, was it
an injury that kept you out?

No, it was
just Harry being Harry. He broke Carl Bradshaw's heart that day. I remember
when he named the team, we were training at a non-league ground close to
Wembley. He had named me and Adie Littlejohn as subs and Brads wasn't even in
the 13. Brads grabbed his boots and chucked them in someone's garden. He was
absolutely distraught. It hurt me to be on the bench. I had played in all of
the cup run from the Burnley replay and then to be left out was absolutely
devastating.

Was it a day of mixed emotions for
you? Gutted to be on the bench, delighted to get on the pitch, gutted with the
result?

Well in the
end I got on for the last half hour and if it hadn't have been for Alan Kelly,
the brother in law, I wouldn’t have even managed that. It was a one man show
that kept us in the game.

My main
abiding memory of the day is Mel Rees…..even saying his name and thinking about
the day now sends a tingle of emotion through me. The FA wouldn't let him lead
us out, which rankled with us all, but I am glad they didn't really because his
walk around the stadium pre-match was brilliant and epitomised what Sheffield
people are about. The reception from all fans was amazing and he hadn't played
that much for United, but it was an amazing reception. He knew then, that was
his day and it wasn't long after that he died.

On a lighter
note another memory is Corky shaving his beard off in the bath afterwards. He
had pledged to grow his beard until the cup run was finished and when we drew
Man U in the 5th round I remember him saying,"thank **** for that, I can get rid of my beard now we are going
out!". It was a bizarre sight when he scored at Wembley, looking like Old
Father Time.

How can you describe playing in a
Sheffield Derby being a fan as well as a player?

I remember
the first game as a player, 1991 at Bramall Lane and the first league Sheffield
Derby in 11 years, first top flight derby in 21 years. Harry had got us revved
up and we had heard rumours about them talking bets on how many goals up they were
going to be after 20 minutes and how Shez (John Sheridan) was going to run the
show.

(IR - The only thing Sheridan ran that
day was into Paul Warhurst, leaving them in a heap on the floor and allowing
Dane Whitehouse to break away and score United's first)

There were
three Sheffield lads in our team that day and for a Sheffield lad to walk out
at Bramall Lane with the noise was just…..I remember seeing Roland Nilsson, the
right back for them, and he was like a rabbit in the headlights, just stunned. Whereas
we were like, "Come on, I can't wait for this". First tackle goes in
and it's Carlton Palmer, a melee ensues and suddenly there were ten United
shirts immediately around; ready and at 'em and grabbing people. Yeah it's
probably not right, but that is how much we were a team and wanted it.

Everything
went right that day and I still have a picture that was taken as I came off at
the final whistle, with the scoreboard behind me saying United 2 Owls 0. I keep
it with my shirt.

Afterwards we
all went to The Big Tree at Woodseats. Now it would be all over the tabloids,
but we partied, I remember players dancing on pool tables, holding a Rottweiler
with a Sheffield United scarf on! Then it started again, the day after you got
the Star pull-out and you can’t wait to read it. Unbelievable times, for a week
we partied and celebrated like we had won the World Cup. We had to go to
Tottenham on the Saturday, yet we still beat them 1-0!

Playing in a
Sheffield Derby is an unbelievable feeling, you are on the field and it’s as if
you can touch the atmosphere. Everything is 100 mph, but you’re in a
bubble.The crowd’s there and the noise
just seals you in. I wish I was there on the pitch today.

The emotion of a Sheffield Derby - celebrating Dane Whitehouse's goal in the 2-0 win in 1991 (Sheffield Newspapers)

In the 1993/94 season you had a spell
on loan at Bristol City, was that due to injuries or form? Did you think you
were likely to leave?

We lost 3-1
at Hillsborough in the Derby match and Harry blamed me. We were going away to
Dubai the week after and he left me out of that. I went to see him and he gave
me a bit of stick and I thought, “Aye aye! The writing’s on the wall here.”
Bristol City came in and I thought that I had to get out, get away from Harry
for a bit and clear my head. I was never going to go there permanently, I just
needed to go and try and prove him wrong so I would stay at United.

Jamie was to remain at Bramall Lane for a little while longer. In the final part; leaving United, life with the Clarets at Turf Moor, Scarborough days, coaching and Jamie's big challenge to raise money for Gary Parkinson.